Alex Atamanenko, MP for BC Southern Interior, is applauding the new anti-horse slaughter billboard that has been erected in Ottawa by the U.S. based Angel Acres and supported by the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition.
“I am hoping that the billboard’s powerful message will bring much needed public attention to an industry that, for a long list of reasons, should not exist.”
Atamanenko has championed this cause with his private members bill C-322 (Slaughter of Horses for Human Consumption). Thousands of people have petitioned the government in support of this bill in the hopes of ending what is regarded as a predatory and inhumane industry.
“If other companion animals, such as dogs and cats, were to suffer the inhumane deaths endured by horses in Canadian slaughterhouses, the country would call for an immediate end to the practice,” said Sinikka Crosland, Executive Director of the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition.
According to Atamanenko all kinds of horses, raised for every other purpose other than the food supply, are being bought up by kill-buyers at auctions across Canada and the United States. They are then transported to Canadian slaughterhouses so their meat can be sold to European and domestic markets for human consumption.
“Besides the cruel and inhumane way in which they are transported and slaughtered, as has repeatedly been revealed in undercover investigations, drugs such as phenylbutazone are commonly administered to horses that are prohibited as highly toxic in food animals,” noted Atamanenko. “Canadians need to be made aware that horsemeat is completely unsuitable as a food source.”
Atamanenko believes that if people take the time to look into the underbelly of this industry, and the inadequate regulations surrounding it they will be moved to express their outrage.
“If the powerful message on this billboard helps spark that movement it would be the best thing in the world for horses,” concluded the BC MP.